“bomb attack” targeting a World War I commemoration ceremony
Several people were wounded Wednesday in what French officials described as a “bomb attack” targeting a World War I commemoration ceremony attended by European diplomats at a non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
France’s Foreign Ministry said the attack had taken place at a ceremony marking the end of World War I and that several people had been wounded as a result of an explosive device.
“The annual ceremony commemorating the end of World War I at the non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah, attended by several consulates, including that of France, was the target of an IED [improvised explosive device] attack this morning, which injured several people,” the ministry said in a statement.
“France strongly condemns this cowardly, unjustifiable attack,” the statement added.
The ministry called on Saudi authorities “to shed as much light as they can on this attack, and to identify and hunt down the perpetrators”.
A Greek government official said four people were “slightly injured” in the blast, including a Greek national.
The Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘Maximum vigilance’
The blast is the second security incident to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second-most populous city, in the last couple of weeks.
On October 29 a Saudi man was arrested after attacking and wounding a security guard at the French consulate there.
On Wednesday, the consulate issued a statement to French nationals in Saudi Arabia urging them to exercise “maximum vigilance” following the latest attack.
“In particular, exercise discretion, and stay away from all gatherings and be cautious when moving around,” said the statement.
The consulate attack occurred on the same day that a knife-wielding man killed three people in a church in Nice in southern France.
It came amid a wave of protests in parts of the Muslim world over French President Emmanuel Macron’s vigorous defence of the right to publish cartoons, including caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed printed by satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Last month, French teacher Samuel Paty was brutally murdered by an 18-year-old radical Islamist angered by reports he had shown the same cartoons to pupils in a class on free speech.
